As personal electronic devices become increasingly sophisticated, people are using such devices in new and interesting ways. For example, personal or portable electronic devices, such as smart phones, tablets, portable media players, and e-book readers, can be used to “augment reality.” That is, an electronic device can be used as a viewfinder into the real world and virtual elements can be overlaid to create a reality that is enhanced or augmented. Augmented reality can be implemented for applications as varied as visual design, medical care, gaming, navigation, or information retrieval. Augmented reality for information retrieval can be especially advantageous for users. For example, an electronic device can be used to obtain a view of an object or location, and a computer-assisted contextual layer can be displayed on top of the view to provide information about the object or location. Conventional systems and techniques, however, may not offer a dynamic or engaging user experience, such as by overlaying virtual elements over a still image instead of a live camera view. Other conventional approaches may provide interfaces that are less than optimal for users. As an example, there may be noticeable lag or latency in the presentation of virtual elements in conventional systems. As another example, there may be visual artifacts in the display of the live camera view and the computer-assisted contextual layer for certain conventional approaches. As still other examples, conventional interfaces may limit rendering of virtual elements to a small portion of a display or limit rendering to certain types of elements (e.g., text or primitive shapes).